65-1-8.
(1) The Mississippi
Transportation Commission shall have the following general powers, duties and
responsibilities:

(a)
To coordinate and develop a comprehensive, balanced transportation
policy for the State of Mississippi;

(b)
To promote the coordinated and efficient use of all available and future
modes of transportation;

(c)
To make recommendations to the Legislature regarding alterations or
modifications in any existing transportation policies;

(d)
To study means of encouraging travel and transportation of goods by the
combination of motor vehicle and other modes of transportation;

(e)
To take such actions as are necessary and proper to discharge its duties
pursuant to the provisions of Laws, 1992, Chapter 496, and any other provision
of law;

(f)
To receive and provide for the expenditure of any funds made available
to it by the Legislature, the federal government or any other source.

(2)
In addition to the general powers, duties and responsibilities listed in
subsection (1) of this section, the Mississippi Transportation Commission shall
have the following specific powers:

(a)
To make rules and regulations whereby the Transportation Department
shall change or relocate any and all highways herein or hereafter fixed as
constituting a part of the state highway system, as may be deemed necessary or
economical in the construction or maintenance thereof; to acquire by gift,
purchase, condemnation or otherwise, land or other property whatsoever that may
be necessary for a state highway system as herein provided, with full consideration
to be given to the stimulation of local public and private investment when
acquiring such property in the vicinity of Mississippi towns, cities and
population centers;

(b)
To enforce by mandamus, or other proper legal remedies, all legal rights
or rights of action of the Mississippi Transportation Commission with other
public bodies, corporations or persons;

(c)
To make and publish rules, regulations and ordinances for the control of
and the policing of the traffic on the state highways, and to prevent their
abuse by any or all persons, natural or artificial, by trucks, tractors,
trailers or any other heavy or destructive vehicles or machines, or by any
other means whatsoever, by establishing weights of loads or of vehicles, types
of tires, width of tire surfaces, length and width of vehicles, with reasonable
variations to meet approximate weather conditions, and all other proper police
and protective regulations, and to provide ample means for the enforcement of
same. The violation of any of the
rules, regulations or ordinances so prescribed by the commission shall
constitute a misdemeanor. No rule,
regulation or ordinance shall be made that conflicts with any statute now in
force or which may hereafter be enacted, or with any ordinance of municipalities. A monthly publication giving general
information to the boards of supervisors, employees and the public may be
issued under such rules and regulations as the commission may determine;

(d)
To give suitable numbers to highways and to change the number of any
highway that shall become a part of the state highway system. However, nothing herein shall authorize the
number of any highway to be changed so as to conflict with any designation
thereof as a U.S. numbered highway.
Where, by a specific act of the Legislature, the commission has been
directed to give a certain number to a highway, the commission shall not have
the authority to change such number;

(e)
(i) To make proper and
reasonable rules, regulations, and ordinances for the placing, erection,
removal or relocation of telephone, telegraph or other poles, signboards,
fences, gas, water, sewerage, oil or other pipelines, and other obstructions
that may, in the opinion of the commission, contribute to the hazards upon any
of the state highways, or in any way interfere with the ordinary travel upon
such highways, or the construction, reconstruction or maintenance thereof, and
to make reasonable rules and regulations for the proper control thereof. Any violation of such rules or regulations
or noncompliance with such ordinances shall constitute a misdemeanor;

(ii) Except as otherwise provided for in this paragraph, whenever the
order of the commission shall require the removal of, or other changes in the
location of telephone, telegraph or other poles, signboards, gas, water,
sewerage, oil or other pipelines; or other similar obstructions on the right-of-way
or such other places where removal is required by law, the owners thereof shall
at their own expense move or change the same to conform to the order of the
commission. Any violation of such rules
or regulations or noncompliance with such orders shall constitute a
misdemeanor;

(iii) Rural water districts, rural water systems,
nonprofit water associations and municipal public water systems in
municipalities with a population of ten thousand (10,000) or less, according to
the latest federal decennial census, shall not be required to bear the cost and
expense of removal and relocation of water and sewer lines and facilities
constructed or in place in the rights-of-way of state highways. The cost and expense of such removal and
relocation, including any unpaid prior to July 1, 2002, shall be paid by the
Department of Transportation;

(f)
To regulate and abandon grade crossings on any road fixed as a part of
the state highway system, and whenever the commission, in order to avoid a
grade crossing with the railroad, locates or constructs said road on one side
of the railroad, the commission shall have the power to abandon and close such
grade crossing, and whenever an underpass or overhead bridge is substituted for
a grade crossing, the commission shall have power to abandon such grade
crossing and any other crossing adjacent thereto. Included in the powers herein granted shall be the power to
require the railroad at grade crossings, where any road of the state highway
system crosses the same, to place signal posts with lights or other warning
devices at such crossings at the expense of the railroad, and to regulate and
abandon underpass or overhead bridges and, where abandoned because of the
construction of a new underpass or overhead bridge, to close such old underpass
or overhead bridge, or, in its discretion, to return the same to the
jurisdiction of the county board of supervisors;

(g)
To make proper and reasonable rules and regulations to control the
cutting or opening of the road surfaces for subsurface installations;

(h)
To make proper and reasonable rules and regulations for the removal from
the public rights-of-way of any form of obstruction, to cooperate in improving
their appearance, and to prescribe minimum clearance heights for seed
conveyors, pipes, passageways or other structure of private or other ownership
above the highways;

(i)
To establish, and have the Transportation Department maintain and
operate, and to cooperate with the state educational institutions in
establishing, enlarging, maintaining and operating a laboratory or laboratories
for testing materials and for other proper highway purposes;

(j)
To provide, under the direction and with the approval of the Department
of Finance and Administration, suitable offices, shops and barns in the City of
Jackson;

(k)
To establish and have enforced set-back regulations;

(l)
To cooperate with proper state authorities in producing limerock for
highway purposes and to purchase same at cost;

(m)
To provide for the purchase of necessary equipment and vehicles and to
provide for the repair and housing of same, to acquire by gift, purchase,
condemnation or otherwise, land or lands and buildings in fee simple, and to
authorize the Transportation Department to construct, lease or otherwise
provide necessary and proper permanent district offices for the construction
and maintenance divisions of the department, and for the repair and housing of
the equipment and vehicles of the department; however, in each Supreme Court
district only two (2) permanent district offices shall be set up, but a
permanent status shall not be given to any such offices until so provided by act
of the Legislature and in the meantime, all shops of the department shall be
retained at their present location. As
many local or subdistrict offices, shops or barns may be provided as is
essential and proper to economical maintenance of the state highway system;

(n)
To cooperate with the Department of Archives and History in having
placed and maintained suitable historical markers, including those which have
been approved and purchased by the State Historical Commission, along state
highways, and to have constructed and maintained roadside driveways for
convenience and safety in viewing them when necessary;

(o)
To cooperate, in its discretion, with the Mississippi Department of
Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks in planning and constructing roadside parks upon
the right-of-way of state highways, whether constructed, under construction, or
planned; said parks to utilize where practical barrow pits used in construction
of state highways for use as fishing ponds.
Said parks shall be named for abundant flora and fauna existing in the
area or for the first flora or fauna found on the site;

(p)
Unless otherwise prohibited by law, to make such contracts and execute
such instruments containing such reasonable and necessary appropriate terms,
provisions and conditions as in its absolute discretion it may deem necessary,
proper or advisable, for the purpose of obtaining or securing financial
assistance, grants or loans from the United States of America or any department
or agency thereof, including contracts with several counties of the state
pertaining to the expenditure of such funds;

(q)
To cooperate with the Federal Highway Administration in the matter of
location, construction and maintenance of the Great River Road, to expend such
funds paid to the commission by the Federal Highway Administration or other
federal agency, and to authorize the Transportation Department to erect
suitable signs marking this highway, the cost of such signs to be paid from
state highway funds other than earmarked construction funds;

(r)
To cooperate, in its discretion, with the Mississippi Forestry
Commission and the School of Forestry, Mississippi State University, in a
forestry management program, including planting, thinning, cutting and selling,
upon the right-of-way of any highway, constructed, acquired or maintained by
the Transportation Department, and to sell and dispose of any and all growing
timber standing, lying or being on any right-of-way acquired by the commission
for highway purposes in the future; such sale or sales to be made in accordance
with the sale of personal property which has become unnecessary for public use
as provided for in Section 65-1-123, Mississippi Code of 1972;

(s)
To expend funds in cooperation with the Division of Plant Industry,
Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the United States
government or any department or agency thereof, or with any department or
agency of this state, to control, suppress or eradicate serious insect pests,
rodents, plant parasites and plant diseases on the state highway rights-of-way;

(t)
To provide for the placement, erection and maintenance of motorist
services business signs and supports within state highway rights-of-way in
accordance with current state and federal laws and regulations governing the
placement of traffic control devices on state highways, and to establish and
collect reasonable fees from the businesses having information on such signs;

(u)
To request and to accept the use of persons convicted of an offense,
whether a felony or a misdemeanor, for work on any road construction, repair or
other project of the Transportation Department. The commission is also authorized to request and to accept the
use of persons who have not been convicted of an offense but who are required
to fulfill certain court-imposed conditions pursuant to Section 41-29-150(d)(1)
or 99-15-26, Mississippi Code of 1972, or the Pretrial Intervention Act, being
Sections 99-15-101 through 99-15-127, Mississippi Code of 1972. The commission is authorized to enter into
any agreements with the Department of Corrections, the State Parole Board, any
criminal court of this state, and any other proper official regarding the
working, guarding, safekeeping, clothing and subsistence of such persons
performing work for the Transportation Department. Such persons shall not be deemed agents, employees or involuntary
servants of the Transportation Department while performing such work or while
going to and from work or other specified areas;

(v)
To provide for the administration of the railroad revitalization program
pursuant to Section 57-43-1 et seq.;

(w)
The Mississippi Transportation Commission is further authorized, in its
discretion, to expend funds for the purchase of service pins for employees of
the Mississippi Transportation Department;

(x)
To cooperate with the State Tax Commission by providing for weight
enforcement field personnel to collect and assess taxes, fees and penalties and
to perform all duties as required pursuant to Section 27-55-501 et seq., Sections
27-19-1 et seq., 27-55-1 et seq., 27-59-1 et seq. and 27-61-1 et seq.,
Mississippi Code of 1972, with regard to vehicles subject to the jurisdiction
of the Office of Weight Enforcement.
All collections and assessments shall be transferred daily to the State
Tax Commission;

(y)
The Mississippi Transportation Commission may delegate the authority to
enter into a supplemental agreement to a contract previously approved by the
commission if the supplemental agreement involves an additional expenditure not
to exceed One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00);

(z)
(i) The Mississippi
Transportation Commission, in its discretion, may enter into agreements with
any county, municipality, county transportation commission, business, corporation,
partnership, association, individual or other legal entity, for the purpose of
accelerating the completion date of scheduled highway construction projects.

(ii) Such an agreement may permit the cost of a highway construction
project to be advanced to the commission by a county, municipality, county
transportation commission, business, corporation, partnership, association,
individual or other legal entity, and repaid to such entity by the commission
when highway construction funds become available; provided, however, that
repayment of funds advanced to the Mississippi Transportation Commission shall
be made no sooner than the commission's identified projected revenue schedule
for funding of that particular construction project, and no other scheduled
highway construction project established by statute or by the commission may be
delayed by an advanced funding project authorized under this paragraph
(z). Repayments to an entity that
advances funds to the Mississippi Transportation Commission under this paragraph
(z) may not include interest or other fees or charges, and the total amount
repaid shall not exceed the total amount of funds advanced to the commission by
the entity.

(iii) In considering whether to enter into such an agreement, the
commission shall consider the availability of financial resources, the effect
of such agreement on other ongoing highway construction, the urgency of the
public's need for swift completion of the project and any other relevant
factors.

(iv) Such an agreement shall be executed only upon a finding by the
commission, spread upon its minutes, that the acceleration of the scheduled
project is both feasible and beneficial.
The commission shall also spread upon its minutes its findings with
regard to the factors required to be considered pursuant to item (iii) of this
paragraph (z).

(aa) The Mississippi Transportation Commission, in its discretion, may
purchase employment practices liability insurance, and may purchase an excess
policy to cover catastrophic losses incurred under the commission's self-insured
workers' compensation program authorized under Section 71-3-5. Such policies shall be written by the agent
or agents of a company or companies authorized to do business in the State of
Mississippi. The deductibles shall be
in an amount deemed reasonable and prudent by the commission, and the premiums
thereon shall be paid from the State Highway Fund. Purchase of insurance under this paragraph shall not serve as an
actual or implied waiver of sovereign immunity or of any protection afforded
the commission under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act.

SECTION
2. This act shall take effect and
be in force from and after its passage.